Haunted
by Manic Penguin
Summary: PostTwilight. Unable to remain in Virginia and remain sane, Tony leaves his life without any notice and disappears for two years. Tragedy strikes the NCIS team once again Tony is dragged back into a life he never really escaped in the first place.
1. Boxed In

**_This is not your usual Post-Twilight fic, and this certainly not the type of NCIS fic you will usually find coming from me. I am, as a rule, denying that the last two minutes of Twilight happened, but this story embraces Kate's fate and shows what is a decidedly dramatic outcome._**

_**I won't let on how, but this is a TATE story, though it won't look like it at first. Just remember that when I go for a ship I go all the way and I'm definitely a TATE shipper.**_

* * *

"_Tony's right, Kate," Gibbs said as he helped Kate to her feet. Tony grinned. He'd worked for the man for almost four years and there had been only a handful of times that his boss had said that he was right._

_Kate smiled. "Tony's right? I thought I'd have to be dead to hear tha—" Kate said, her quip cut off by a single shot that went straight through her head._

_Warm blood sprayed Tony in the face as he moved to catch his fallen partner._

* * *

Tony woke up, drenched in sweat, his heart racing, his breaths coming in slow, laboured gasps.

"Fuck. Not again," Tony growled before throwing the damp and twisted covers off his naked body. He pulled on a pair of sweatpants and stumbled through the small house he lad lived in for just over two years. He moved clumsily around boxes that had yet to be unpacked despite the length of time he had lived there. Every time he tripped over the boxes he was reminded of how she would have reacted if she saw how he was living. So he didn't do anything with the boxes, hoping that he would be able to make Kate knock on the door and start teasing him about his house if he did the things that he knew would annoy her the most.

Splashing cold water on his face from the kitchen tap, Tony tried to shape the talon-like fingers of his nightmare from his soul.

The nightmare was something he had lived with for almost three years. For almost a week after Kate was killed he, Gibbs, McGee, Abby, and Ducky had worked non-stop, tracking Ari because they all knew that it was him and that killing Kate was the terrorist's act of war. Ari threw down the gauntlet when he pulled the trigger and the chase, that had been very real but necessarily slow-going due to prioritizing, was on in earnest.

Gibbs was a man obsessed. Ari was unfinished business to the Gunny and everyone knew that Gibbs felt guilty because the only intel they had to go on pointed to Ari being after him and using Kate to throw Gibbs off his game. A major miscalculation, that.

Abby had confessed her precognitive dream to the NCIS shrink who had encouraged her to share that with her friends. None of them had really known how to respond to that piece of information and it had quickly been swept under the proverbial rug.

Ducky had taken a leave of absence immediately after Kate's death, partially to grieve, but mostly because he knew that if he stayed he would have to perform her autopsy and, even though he had done them on other people he knew, Kate was special. She was the daughter he never had and losing her cut Ducky to the core. He had come back to work after a month and had joined the rest of the team in their search for revenge.

McGee had been crushed by Kate's murder. She had been the only person on the team that he could usually understand and, other than the one time when he was first made a Probie, she had never hit him, even though he was pretty sure she had wanted to a few times. He also felt incredibly guilty because he felt that, since he wasn't on the roof, he should have been able to see Ari on the other rooftop and that he should have done something to stop the trigger from being pulled.

But Tony took it hardest of them all.

Kate had been there for him, not just during the day-in-day-out stuff, but during the big stuff as well. She had risked being infected with the plague just so that he wouldn't be alone in the isolation chamber. He didn't even think he was worth the risk, especially the way he treated her a lot of the time, yet she had stayed by his side, bantering with him when he had the strength, just sitting with him and holding his hand when he grew too weak to do anything but cough and rest and groan between doses of painkillers.

Tony had never been a big believer in soul mates, but one day, about two months after Kate's funeral, he realized that he and Kate had been soul mates. Even when they were fighting like cats and dogs or when they were racing to beat each other to impress Gibbs, they were still a team. Partners to the end. Best friends who loved each other even if they had never found the opportunity to say the words. They were there for each other, even if it wasn't in the most palpable of ways, through thick and thin… in sickness and in health… 'til death did them part.

Soul mates.

The day Tony realized that was the day he tendered his resignation and left DC for good.

He hadn't had contact with anyone from NCIS since he left. He knew they were trying to track him down, which was why he hadn't so much as thought about calling or writing. He knew how good they were. They would find him and try to bring him 'home'. He just hoped that they realized that he had left for a reason and, if he were to ever go back, it would be because he was ready.

Since he couldn't visit her grave and place flowers—from Martha's Garden, her favourite florist—by her headstone regularly, Tony had found a nursery and bought a near-full-sized Weeping Willow and had planted it in his back yard that was almost as big as the house itself. The trees had always reminded him of Kate—strong and steady, yet soft and so fragile at the same time. His neighbour, a single mother named Donna, had two kids, Emily and Amy, ages ten and eight respectively, and he had found them trying to climb the tree several times, always running away when he caught them though he honestly didn't care. Kate loved kids, he knew, and would have been an amazing mother if she had been given the chance. She probably would have been overprotective, especially given the horrors they had seen in their line of work, but she would love her children with everything she had. Tony was sure of that.

_**

* * *

**_

"_When I'm a mother I'm never letting my kids out of my sight," Kate said as they scanned the perimeter of the train station. Neither one of them thought the kidnapper was still there, and they were all pretty sure it was just the one guy doing this to the Watson family, but if they were wrong and there were more people in on it and they went straight to little Sandy they would give their link to the Captain away and then Sandy's mother would be killed._

"_Yeah? How do you plan on doing that?" Tony asked._

_Kate had an answer all prepared for his question. She had obviously thought a lot about this. "GPS locator strapped to their ankles; audio and video surveillance built into their clothes."_

"_No, I mean the part about becoming a mother," Tony replied._

"_Ha, ha. Funny," Kate said, rolling her eyes._

_Then, later at the office as they watched the Watson's hugging and kissing each other, she's brought the subject of procreation up again._

"_Makes you think, doesn't it?" she asked._

"_What?"_

"_Having kids," Kate said, a longing in her eyes that Tony found adorable._

"_Yeah," Tony admitted. He frowned. "I don't think I could handle it," he added. He wasn't cut out to be a daddy. Sure, his nieces and nephews were fun to hang out with and he wasn't completely opposed to babysitting should his sister's call upon him, and they certainly made family get-together's more bearable because, honestly, he was a kid at heart, but Tony knew he wouldn't be able to be a full-time parent. He liked not having responsibilities beyond his job to tie him down._

_Kate, however, would be the kind of person who worked full time, raised a baseball team of children, and still had time to do inane things like join the PTA and make costumes for school plays. Tony was sure of that._

* * *

One night, about a month after planting the tree Tony watched the girls climbing his Kate-tree and having the time of their lives. He smiled for the first time since before Kate was killed. He had gone out to talk to the girls and they had profusely apologized to him, calling him _Mr. DiNozzo_, saying that they hadn't meant to make him angry and could he please not tell their mother about this? Tony had laughed it off, though. "I don't mind, girls," he'd said. "Just be careful."

The girls were beautiful, both with light blonde hair that obviously came from their father as Donna was a natural red-head and, if the people who arrived in droves at Christmas were any indication, so was most of her family. Their innocence was refreshing, and he was amazed with their willingness to befriend him—their mother's willingness to let it happen without thoroughly interrogating him first—without any questions asked. They didn't know his past, didn't know the number of people he had killed and seen die, didn't know that he knew more ways than he could count to murder someone without leaving obvious traces. His job, his career… his past life had taught him so many things that he just didn't want to know anymore.

His new life, however, was easier, and safer. He had friends—not close friends like he had had at NCIS, but still good friends, good people—and he had his house—undecorated as it was—and he had his job as a detective at the local precinct. He ran in the early evenings, always pushing himself a little harder than he really should have been. He had dated, some, but never anything that went beyond a first or second date. Sometimes he was sure that he had stayed in his pseudo relationships with women back in DC only because it gave him good material to bug Kate and McGee. He didn't joke with the people he worked with and hadn't fired his gun since leaving DC except for on the shooting range when he needed to requalify. He called his family more than he had in the ten years prior to joining NCIS and had managed to convince his older sister, Isabella, to let her kids, Joseph and Maria, nine and eight, come visit him for a few weeks during their summer break. He was pretty sure his mother had something to do with it—Isabella had never really trusted him to be around her kids without 'adult supervision'—but he didn't really care. He missed his niece and his nephew and hadn't been able to bring himself to visit them because they lived in Virginia Beach, relatively quick drive East on the I-264 from Norfolk.

Tony often found himself thinking about his past life during the early hours of the morning after his seemingly unstoppable nightmares dragged him from his bed. He didn't regret leaving. He knew it was the right thing; that it was what he had to do for himself. But he missed his friends and the support that the team had always given him.

After drying his face off with a dish towel Tony decided he should start figuring out what to do with the boxes of his possessions. Other than his clothes, books, CD's, and movies everything was still packed and taking up space that he would need when his niece and nephew arrived in two weeks time.

He found an Exact-o-Knife in one of the drawers in the kitchen and then went into the living room where the majority of the boxes had found themselves. First, he decided, he would deal with the framed pictures. They were out of date and he was pretty sure the glass had been broken in a few of the frames during his impromptu packing-and-skipping-town act, but that was easy enough to deal with.

Pictures of his sisters and their children; of his parents and grandparents; a group picture of his fraternity and an updated one from their spring break reunion in Panama City; of him and his partners from when he was a cop, and even some older pictures of beloved childhood pets, including a Shih Tzu that had died when he was seven or eight. He stopped and sat down when he found the box that was full of pictures of the team with all its different members. Gibbs was in them all, as were Ducky and Abby. Viv Blackadder was in some. Kate in others. McGee started showing up later on, always in a suit even though Gibbs had told him more than once that it wasn't necessary, that the dress code was lax and that he was a field agent now, not a computer tech, and casual clothing was much more logical a choice in the field.

He found his favourite picture easily, though. Just him and Kate in Paraguay. Their guide had snapped the picture. They were in the room they had gone to when they first arrived and were both sweating profusely, standing in front of the open fridge to cool down a little. Tony remembered debating with Kate whether or not it would be wise to take a Corona from the fridge and split it. It had been so hot and there was nothing in the fridge but Corona's and limes. The picture had been taken just as he grabbed some flaky ice from the freezer and dropped it down the front of Kate's tee shirt, making her jump and giggle and elbow him in the gut all at the same time.

"That was a good trip," Tony said softly. He didn't much care for the outcome, their mark getting taken out by someone who was supposed to be on their side, but they had saved the girl and solved the case and had gotten out of Virginia for a little while without Gibbs lurking over their shoulders.

Tony was just about to go put the picture on the mantle place when a car pulled up and parked at the curb. One man got out and approached Tony's house quickly. He reached the door and hit the doorbell before knocking firmly and loudly.

Not wanting to piss anyone off—his unexpected guest or his neighbours—Tony grabbed one of his guns from the end table and made sure it was loaded and that the safety was off, and then he went to the door and looked through the peep hole.

The man standing on the other side was distorted and there wasn't much light, but Tony would know him anywhere.

Sighing heavily, Tony stepped back and unlocked the door, turning the handle and pulling the heavy wooden plank back a few feet until he was looking his past in the face.

"Kinda late for a social call, don'cha think?" Tony asked coolly, making no move to hide the fact that he was armed, though the gun was currently pointed at the ground beside his right foot.

"Would'a been here sooner but you're a hard man to track down," the visitor replied as he stepped past Tony and walked into the living room as if he were an invited guest. Tony sighed again and closed the door, resigned to the fact that he couldn't hide any longer. He wasn't ready for this, but he couldn't help but thinking that maybe it was better that the choice was taken away from him. In his most honest heart of hearts he knew that he would never have the courage to go back to Virginia unless his hand was forced.

And he was pretty sure he was about to be dragged back, kicking and screaming if that was what it took.

* * *

_**I was going to put more in but I wanted to leave it here. Plus I really wanted to get this out before the 'net got filled with Mind Games spoiler fics, which, BTW, this is not going to be.**_

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**_Please let me know what you think._**

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**_Mel_**


	2. Force of Home

_**Okay, since I'm doing a lot of flashing back as well as some dream sequences and whatnot the breakdown is listed below:**_

_**flashbacks: italic, left-aligned**_

_**dreams: italic, centre-aligned**_

_**written: bold, centre-aligned**_

_**non-English language: italic and bold (since I'm too lazy and not proficient enough in many languages everything will be written in English and you can just use your imaginations.)**_

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* * *

_**Sorry about the lapse in updates. First my internet was down, then I got struck with writers block, then I forgot about this story completely and... well, sorry.**_

_**Also, now that the new season has begun this story is AU.**_

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Clicking the safety back on his gun, Tony set it down on one of the small tables in the room before sitting down on the beat-up couch and looking at his unexpected and unwanted guest, wanting an explanation more than anything else at the moment. When the other man didn't offer up any information Tony spoke, knowing that that was the younger man's intention—Tony had trained him, after all—but being too impatient to wait his visitor out.

"What the hell are you doing here, McGee? And how the hell did you find me?"

Tony wasn't sure what he expected in response, but the words that came out of his former protégé's mouth were definitely the last ones he thought he's be hearing at three in the morning in the house that he hadn't even thought NCIS knew about.

"Gibbs was killed. Three days ago."

"Who?" Tony asked, dreading the answer but knowing that he needed to hear it.

McGee sat down in a chair facing Tony. Still in a drab blue suit, Timothy McGee looked exactly the same yet completely different. Tony knew that the job had started getting to the MIT grad, that McGee was facing the horrors of the world head on and that he had become a different person because of it. Tony knew that feeling well.

"Ari," McGee said, his voice hard and angry. Tony had never heard the younger man sound that way.

Tony exhaled heavily. He had wanted, more than anything, to kill Ari with his bare hands after Kate had been killed, and now, hearing that his mentor—a man Tony had always secretly thought to be invincible—was also dead by Ari's hand, Tony found his need for revenge—preferably bloody—growing.

"That's why I'm here," McGee continued, calmer now. He leaned forward. "We need you back, Tony. Right now I'm the only one with any real knowledge outside the files on Ari and what I have is second and third hand. All the things you dug up before you left have either run dry or been false leads to begin with, but we haven't been able to get anything more since you took off."

"I did not take off, McGee."

"You left with no warning, e-mailed your resignation to Gibbs, and left almost everything you owned in your apartment for the landlord to deal with," McGee said.

Tony relented. "Okay, I took off. But I had my reasons, and they still stand. I'm not going back. I'm sorry about Gibbs, I really am, but I left NCIS a long time ago. I've moved on."

"Alright. But, just so you know, I'm under orders not to leave until you agree to come back to NCIS, even if it's only temporary," McGee said. He leaned back in his chair. "I wonder how much it'd cost to have my stuff shipped out here…"

Growling Tony stood up. "Get out of my house, McGee. I'll go back to NCIS and take down Ari, but I'm not working any other cases. Once Ari is dead or locked up I'm out and you can forget you know where I am, understood?"

McGee nodded. "Flight leaves at ten, I'll pick you up. I've already spoken to your boss. He's transferred you to NCIS for a period no longer than twelve months. We can go over the rest of the details on the flight," the younger man said as he stood up and headed for the door. He paused in the doorway. "I understand why you left, Tony. We all did. But… once this is all over… we, uh… miss you around the office."

"Goodnight, Probie," Tony said with a half smile as McGee moved through the doorway. He put his hand on the knob to push the door closed, but he hesitated only long enough for McGee to protest the hated nickname.

"I made full agent before you left, Tony."

Tony smiled. "I know," he replied before closing and locking the door behind his reluctant former protégé.

Even though he knew he had a lot to do before McGee returned to pick him up, Tony decided to try to get some more sleep before packing and making sure the house would be able to sit for what could potentially be an entire year without his presence.

* * *

_He wasn't sure how he'd managed to convince her to join him, but somehow he had managed to get Kate to accompany him to a double feature at his favourite movie theatre. His favourite person by his side—diet coke and unbuttered popcorn in hand—and The Duke on the big screen made the evening pretty much perfect._

_Of course he couldn't get the taste of her non-fat-tofu-wrap out of his mouth, but he figured it was a small price to pay. One light meal at Kate's restaurant of choice before five hours of classic movie viewing. He was pleased that he was definitely coming out on top of the deal._

"_See, this isn't so bad," Tony said as he held down Kate's seat for her._

"_I'm still not too sure about the movies, but I'm keeping an open mind," Kate said fairly as she got settled in the well-padded seat. She worried her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment before turning slightly so that she was facing me. "Do you have any plans for tomorrow night?"_

"_Unless Gibbs calls, no. Why?"_

"_Well, I managed to get courtside seats to the Knicks game tomorrow and my date bailed on me… I know it's completely last minute, probably insultingly so, but I know you like pro ball and… well, I'd like for you to come with me," Kate said, flustered._

_Tony grinned. "Like a date?" he asked._

"_Only if you want it to be," Kate said, blushing._

_The theatre darkened and the previews started rolling. Kate turned back to face the screen and, after a few minutes of watching Kate rolling her eyes at the immature comedies coming out and tensing up when an ad for a horror flick rolled around, Tony turned as well._

_Several hours later Tony unlocked the passenger side door of his car. "Before I answer you about the game… who were you planning on going with, originally?" he asked, his hip resting on the door so Kate couldn't escape like she was known to do when things got personal. Tony wanted to go, not only because it had been so long since he'd been to a game, but also because it was another excuse to spend time with Kate away from murders and drug deals and all the other fun things that came with their jobs, but he didn't want to be her last choice for Sunday night companionship. He didn't even really like being second choice, but, depending on her answer, he was sure he'd be able to find it in himself to deal with it._

"_My friend, Alyson."_

"_The red-head?" Tony asked._

"_That's Alexia. Alyson is blonde," Kate said. "We were planning this for a while... but her boyfriend is leaving for a business trip on Monday and they want some time alone before he leaves. I really don't want to be the loser sitting court-side all alone… please say you'll come?"_

"_Courtside?" Tony asked, quirking an eyebrow at his partner. Kate nodded. "You're on. What time do we have to leave to get there on time?" he asked, knowing Kate would have the transport time all figured out already._

_Kate didn't disappoint._

"_There's a shuttle at ten tomorrow morning. We could catch that, spend some time in the city before the game, then take the shuttle back home after," she said._

"_I'll pick you up," Tony said, leaning in and quickly brushing his lips over Kate's before moving away from the door and pulling it open so that she could slip inside._

* * *

Tony woke up from his pleasant dream with a smile on his face. Even before the nightmares started he had rarely had good dreams, so whenever he did get blessed with enjoyable sub-conscious imaginings he took as much joy in it as he could.

After a quick shower Tony packed some clothes and a few belongings into a suitcase and set it down by the door. While his coffee was dripping into the pot he went next door to let Donna know he would be out of town for a while.

Emily answered the door after peeking through the window beside the door. "Mr. DiNozzo!" she said happily, all bouncing pigtails and Tigger pyjamas and freckles. "Mommy, Mr. DiNozzo's here!" she called as she grabbed Tony's hand and dragged him inside the house.

"How many times do I have to tell you to call me Tony?" he asked the girl.

"Mommy says it's_ not right_," Emily replied as she led him to the kitchen.

"Morning, Tony," Donna said, reaching into the cupboard for a second coffee mug. "Coffee?" she asked, holding the cup loosely.

"No time," Tony said apologetically. To be perfectly honest he wasn't sure he could even touch the coffee that had automatically started making itself back at his place. Coffee automatically made him think of Gibbs. "Can we talk?" he asked, not wanting to talk about what he had to do in front of the girls.

Donna nodded. "Grils, why don't you go pick out your clothes and start getting ready for Nana to pick you up?" she said to her daughters.

"Okay, mommy," Emily and Amy replied before running to the stairs that led to their bedrooms.

"What's going on?" Donna asked Tony.

Tony sighed. "A friend of mine… my boss back at NCIS… he was killed by the same man that killed Kate," he said. Donna knew all about Kate. She was the only person he had been able to talk to about his past and about his nightmares. "Apparently the team thinks that having me back will help catch this guy…"

"I understand," Donna said sincerely. "When do you leave?"

Looking at his watch Tony cringed. "Any minute."

"NCIS gives lots of notice, huh?" Donna said sympathetically. Tony smiled softly. "Well, be safe. And keep in touch. The girls are going to miss you... and so am I," she admitted.

"I'll be fine," Tony promised, hugging his friend tightly. "I should go. I'll call tonight, if that's alright."

"You never have to ask if you can call, Tony," Donna reminded him. She looked out the window. "There's a suit walking up to your door."

Tony joined her at the window and shook his head when he spotted McGee. Even when they were going to be flying across the country he still wore a suit. "That's my ride. I'll talk to you later," he said, giving Donna a bright smile before heading out of the house again. Tony cut across the lawn and told McGee he'd meet him in the car. Once the younger agent was gone Tony went inside and grabbed his hastily packed bag and turned to leave. He got halfway to his bedroom door when he stopped, turned around, and went back to pick up the picture of himself with Kate that he had put beside his bed the night before.

That he was taking with him.

* * *

"How are things other than… this?" Tony asked, unable to voice any mention of Gibb's fate.

"Pretty good. Ducky finally got rid of Palmer and his new assistant is actually able to control those stories of his a bit," McGee said as he picked at the label on his beer. "Abby met someone at a seminar on a new designer drug that she went to last year. They're getting married on November first."

Tony quirked an eyebrow at that. He'd never really figured Abby for the marrying type. "White gown?"

"Originally. She dyed it black herself. Apparently the salesperson almost had a heart attack when she asked for a black wedding dress," McGee said with a fond smile.

"What's he like?" Tony asked, less out of curiosity and more out of the big-brother feelings he had always had for the lab tech.

McGee shrugged. "Nick? He's a good guy. He runs the trace lab at the main Virginia Coroner's office; the one that's in that building that used to be the train station. Gibbs pulled the whole 'father' routine—cleaning his gun, Marine death glares, reading a background check on the guy right in front of him—but, surprisingly that didn't scare him off. Gibbs deemed him 'worthy'. But he also told Nick that if he hurt Abby he would make sure that Ducky ruled the cause of death as accidental."

"That sounds like Gibbs," Tony smiled. "And what about that moron… Agent Jackass?"

"Agent Jackson," McGee corrected. "He didn't last. After you left Gibbs started actually paying attention to Jackson's mistakes."

Tony nodded. He hadn't expected Jackson to last. "Who came in then?"

McGee sighed heavily. "A cop from Brooklyn who stuck around for almost four months before Gibbs got to him, three of Hoover's jaded best who didn't even stick around long enough to unpack, and, finally, a former Marine Major who resigned her commission after her fiancé was murdered by someone in his unit. She's acting team leader at the moment."

"Name?"

"Katrina Golden," McGee said as he pulled a file out of his backpack and handed it to Tony. "I figured you'd want to know who you're going to be working for."

* * *

_For those of you who think that Tony caved a little too easily, the answer is simple and will be explained further in later chapters._

_Also chapters will get longer, but I needed to establish some things before getting to the meat of the story._

_What did you think?_

_Mel_


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